Thailand affected by Microsoft cloud outage

[webfact]

 

Thailand faces disruptions as a global IT meltdown wreaks havoc across key sectors, impacting airports, banks, offices, and retailers. The crisis, attributed to a recent Microsoft Windows update by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, has left many organisations in disarray.

 

Airports of Thailand (AOT), managing six key airports, reported significant delays and urged passengers to arrive at least four hours before departure. Among the affected airlines at Suvarnabhumi Airport were Cebu Pacific Air, GoAir, Hong Kong Express Airways, IndiGo Airlines, Jetstar Airways, Jetstar Asia, Scoot, SpiceJet, Thai AirAsia, Thai AirAsia X, and Norse Atlantic Airways.

 

Don Mueang Airport also experienced difficulties, affecting Thai AirAsia, AirAsia Berhad, Philippines AirAsia, and Indonesia AirAsia. Phuket Airport saw interruptions for Thai AirAsia, AirAsia Berhad, Firefly Airlines, Scoot Tiger, IndiGo, and Jetstar Asia.

 

Chiang Mai’s operations were hampered for Thai AirAsia, while Mae Fah Luang Airport in Chiang Rai and Hat Yai Airport faced disruptions from Thai AirAsia and Scoot Tiger flights.

 

Beyond aviation, banks and offices struggled as systems went offline, hampering routine operations. Employees found themselves unable to log in and process transactions, leading to a cascade of issues.

 

Retailers also faced complications, notably large department stores where IT payment systems failed, leaving transactions pending and consumers frustrated. In response, many businesses reverted to manual processes to maintain service continuity.

 

Experts suggest the root of the IT chaos lies in the latest Windows update, though comprehensive solutions are still unfolding. As software patches and workarounds are rolled out, businesses and services are slowly regaining functionality. However, the incident underscores the vulnerabilities tied to global IT ecosystems and the ripple effects they can generate.

 

Affected sectors are now focusing on recovery while assessing the broader implications for future IT security and resilience strategies. The incident serves as a stark reminder of our growing dependence on technology and the critical need for robust cybersecurity measures.

 

Picture courtesy: Naew Na

 

-- 2024-07-20

 

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RELATED WORLD NEWS TOPIC

Major IT Outage: Microsoft update disrupts airlines, banks, media, telecoms worldwide

https://aseannow.com/topic/1333350-major-it-outage-microsoft-update-disrupts-airlines-banks-media-telecoms-worldwide/

 

[webfact]

Thailand affected by Microsoft cloud outage

 

Thailand has been affected today by a Microsoft cloud service outage, apparently triggered by software distributed by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, which has impacted many businesses worldwide, including AirAsia, a low-cost airline, and hospital systems.

 

AirAsia announced on its Facebook page that the outage of Microsoft Azure has affected its reservation and check-in systems at all airports.

 

As a result, the airline has had to resort to a manual system, causing delays for passengers. Passengers are therefore advised to arrive at the airport three hours before departure time.

 

Meanwhile, Bangkok Hospital Surat, in Surat Thani province, has informed its patients that the outage has affected its IT system as well, causing inconvenience and service delays.

 

Full story: Thai PBS 2024-07-20

 

- Cigna offers a range of plans that meet the minimum requirement of medical treatment up to THB 3m. For more information on all expat health insurance plans click here.

 

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[chang1]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Airports of Thailand (AOT), managing six key airports, reported significant delays and urged passengers to arrive at least four hours before departure.

 

Why come early if flights are delayed? Thais seem to love making you wait around for no good reason.

[Crossy]

More here https://www.theverge.com/2024/7/19/24201717/windows-bsod-crowdstrike-outage-issue

 

[Expat68]

Never rely on cashless 

[nobodysfriend]

An  update by " Crowdstrike " globally hit Windows user . ( It really did strike the crowd ... )

It exposed great vulnerability of IT systems using Windows .

Putin , Kim , Xi , all will learn from this .

Modern warfare depends on IT . And , if this is easily hacked or put down , it can be of decisive importance in case of war .

Better fix this soon .

[klauskunkel]

My local Big C "Magic Number" not working... 

[hotchilli]

10 minutes ago, nobodysfriend said:

An  update by " Crowdstrike " globally hit Windows user . ( It really did strike the crowd ... )

It exposed great vulnerability of IT systems using Windows .

Putin , Kim , Xi , all will learn from this .

Modern warfare depends on IT . And , if this is easily hacked or put down , it can be of decisive importance in case of war .

Better fix this soon .

Cyber war will come soon... wipe out a countries communication network and it will fall quickly into disarray.

[nakhonandy]

18 minutes ago, chang1 said:

 

Why come early if flights are delayed? Thais seem to love making you wait around for no good reason.

I think it was referring to departures as it would take longer to process the checking manually. 

[mfd101]

And here in Surin - at the end of the world - I was blissfully unaware of all this, working away on my iMac. Couldn't understand why, when I tried to ring my bank in Oz, the Thai service person said 'That number does not exist try again' ...

Edited July 20 by mfd101

[ChrisY1]

Windows, IMO, has always been a dreadful operating system...I've used Apple for 14 years...never seem to have system issues at all....but, I have a Windows laptop because so many of Thailand' site don't recognize Apple. 

[JimHuaHin]

A timely warning?

 

Where is your back-up system big business?   What back-up system?

 

When global big business depends on one cybersecurity business - for example StrikeForce - and one software/cloud provider - say Microsoft - you are asking for trouble.  Where are your back-up providers?  There are none?  Poor planning.

 

After my first major personal computer problem, almost 4 decades ago, I learnt to back-up my work (daily, if not hourly) and computer hard drive (weekly).  Later I learnt to have a functioning back-up computer, once my computer was "out of action" for a week and I could not do any work.

 

What appears to have been a small insignificant programming/coding error has created global chaos; thankfully most essential global services have been unaffected.

 

Will big business learn from this "system error"?

 

 

[Peterphuket]

1 hour ago, Expat68 said:

Never rely on cashless 

And then soon they (all these governments) want to introduce the CBDC, you see it happening.😂

[Dionigi]

Just now, ChrisY1 said:

Windows, IMO, has always been a dreadful operating system...I've used Apple for 14 years...never seem to have system issues at all....but, I have a Windows laptop because so many of Thailand' site don't recognize Apple. 

you may think it a dreadful operating system but you have answered why people need windows because a lot of the words operating systems run on it.

[Peterphuket]

55 minutes ago, ChrisY1 said:

Windows, IMO, has always been a dreadful operating system...I've used Apple for 14 years...never seem to have system issues at all....but, I have a Windows laptop because so many of Thailand' site don't recognize Apple. 

As long as I have lived here, more than 25 years, I have used Apple, but I have never had any problems in Thailand that Apple is not recognised, on any website.
Do you sometimes have a Hackintosh?😂

[ravip]

1 hour ago, ChrisY1 said:

Windows, IMO, has always been a dreadful operating system...I've used Apple for 14 years...never seem to have system issues at all....but, I have a Windows laptop because so many of Thailand' site don't recognize Apple. 

How many critical systems rely on Apple?

e.g. Airlines, Banks, Hospitals, etc

Just asking as I don't know...

[GoodieAfterDark]

1 hour ago, hotchilli said:

Cyber war will come soon... wipe out a countries communication network and it will fall quickly into disarray.

 

The WEF did a simulation sometime ago. I am sure this is a rehearsal for what is to come. And don't forget the "bird flu pandemic" being promoted by the media. Gonna be eating insects and lab meat made in Israel by 2030.

[RJRS1301]

1 hour ago, chang1 said:

 

Why come early if flights are delayed? Thais seem to love making you wait around for no good reason.

Bag drop had to do manual check-ins for checked baggage

Manual check-in for those not previously checked in, no recognition for mobile check in

Lots of reasons

Passenger loading systems not working, having to do manual  boarding

 

 

[Tarteso]

Maybe grandmother would be right..

Money under mattress 🤔

[sandyf]

1 hour ago, nakhonandy said:

I think it was referring to departures as it would take longer to process the checking manually. 

Indeed, it would appear that online check in systems were affected. I think it was Ryanair that said that under the circumstances they would allow people to check in at the airport for free!!

[sandyf]

1 hour ago, ChrisY1 said:

Windows, IMO, has always been a dreadful operating system...I've used Apple for 14 years...never seem to have system issues at all....but, I have a Windows laptop because so many of Thailand' site don't recognize Apple. 

Windows was one of the more minor casualties, the real problem was higher up the ladder with Microsoft's more sophisticated products for large scale enterprises.

[sandyf]

1 hour ago, JimHuaHin said:

Where are your back-up providers?  There are none?  Poor planning.

Rubbish.

Business only back up their own data, they cannot back operating systems held on external servers, they are maintained and backed up by a third party, such as Cyberstrike. Business can only work within the paameters available.

Cyberstrike were doing an update which went wrong, the timing of that could be questioned but difficult in an international situation. They would have resolved the issue initially from a backup until the update issue gets fixed.

Updates are carried out regularly without users ever being aware but I suspect there will be a lot of head scratching over updates following this incident.

[Pib]

Wanting some more details on exactly what took down so many Windows-based systems my googling revealed it was due to a defective update of Crowdstrike's Falcon Platform software which integrates with a Windows-based system.  Basically the Falcon software is a fancy anti-hacking/anti-virus program.    See Crowdstrike technical explanation and key to note it mention of its Falcon software.

https://www.crowdstrike.com/blog/technical-details-on-todays-outage/

 

So, if you were some business that didn't use Crowdstrike's Falcon system you would not be affected which is why many businesses have reported they were not affected which means they were not using the Falcon software...hopefully using some other anti-hacking/anti-virus software....or maybe they simply were not using any anti-hacking software.

 

[metisdead]

A post contravening our Community Standards has been removed:

 

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[Shocked farang]

 

This is the culprit! 

[CallumWK]

1 hour ago, ravip said:

How many critical systems rely on Apple?

e.g. Airlines, Banks, Hospitals, etc

Just asking as I don't know...

 

Very few, and for a very good reason, because only half of the functions in their current system would be available, because too many restrictions , while the system in itself would cost multiple times from what Windows cost.

[Shocked farang]

2 minutes ago, CallumWK said:

 

Very few, and for a very good reason, because only half of the functions in their current system would be available, because too many restrictions , while the system in itself would cost multiple times from what Windows cost.

Plus Apple is not available as a server, only as a client. 

[CallumWK]

10 minutes ago, Shocked farang said:

 

This is the culprit! 

 

You also still believe in Santa Claus?

 

[Shocked farang]

Just now, CallumWK said:

 

You also still believe in Santa Claus?

 

Ok, thanks for letting me know! 

[Drumbuie]

3 hours ago, nobodysfriend said:

An  update by " Crowdstrike " globally hit Windows user . ( It really did strike the crowd ... )

It exposed great vulnerability of IT systems using Windows .

Putin , Kim , Xi , all will learn from this .

Modern warfare depends on IT . And , if this is easily hacked or put down , it can be of decisive importance in case of war .

Better fix this soon .

I think everyone was already aware of the possibility of cyber warfare, actually ...